Podcast #11: Bryce Wilkinson on the Overseas Investment Act

As the country looks for ways to recover from the Covid-19 recession, the government is tweaking a few rules to help it along.

One of its actions was to amend the Overseas Investment Act, or OIA.

Essentially, the government is concerned that foreign companies will buy up New Zealand land and business assets at bargain-basement prices, leaving Kiwis with less to go around. A handful of other changes were also proposed for the Act.

Our Senior Fellow Dr Bryce Wilkinson explains to Nathan Smith in our weekly podcast why the OIA is a clumsy tool to help fix an economic downturn. What also really bothered him was that the government left almost no time for experts like him to give their opinion on the changes.